JUPITER, Fla. -- Barry Bonds pulled his white Cadillac SUV into the Miami Marlins parking lot at 9:45 Thursday morning, and drove around.
And around.
And around.
He finally gave up, and asked the parking lot attendant where he was supposed to park.
Sorry, except for Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and the front office, there are no designated spots.
“The first time in my career I don’t have a parking spot,’’ Bonds said, laughing. “I have no idea where I’m going.’’
Welcome to life as a grunt.
Bonds, baseball’s all-time home run king, and one of the greatest players in baseball history, immediately discovered on his first day on the job as the Marlins’ new hitting coach that life will be different.
He’s just like every other coach now, only a whole lot more famous, with a player resume that no one can match.
The fans congregated outside the Marlins parking lot sure weren’t waiting in the hot sun Thursday afternoon for anyone else’s autograph.
Bonds, just like everyone else now, will have to be at the ballpark in the wee hours of the morning.
He’ll be leaving the ballpark late every day, just like every other coach.
And the day will be filled with precious little free time, yes, like any other coach.
Bonds, who retired in 2007 with 762 home runs, is back in the baseball rat-race entering a familiar old world, in a brand new line of work.
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t excited about the job, that’s for sure,’’ Bonds told USA TODAY Sports.
“I would not be here.’’
Bonds, who will address the media in his first formal session Saturday at the Marlins’ FanFest in Miami, views this as an opportunity of a lifetime.
He doesn’t know whether he’ll like the job.
He has no idea if he’ll be good at it.
Yet, living by himself in San Francisco, and with his kids grown up, he was ready for a challenge in life.
Loria telephoned him, asked if he was interested, and after several conversations with Mattingly, the Marlins’ new manager, and assistant hitting coach Frank Menechino, and even his mom, he decided to go for it.
The difference now is that after knowing he was the greatest player in the game while he played, he has no idea how he’ll perform in his new role
“It’s the unknown,’’ Bonds said. “The same thing about baseball. I played 22 years chasing the unknown.
“I don’t know.
“There is no answer to it.’’
Maybe, but you ask those who know Bonds, who sought him out to be their private hitting instructor during the off-season, and there’s nothing but rave reviews.
“He’s going to be great and do wonders for that team,’’ New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez told USA TODAY Sports. “And can you imagine him working with (Giancarlo) Stanton. If you think about that combination, that’s as good as it gets, right?
“Stanton’s talent, his work ethic, his passion for the game, and now having one of the greatest minds alive working with together with him.
“This has the potential to be monumental. Credit to Jeffrey Loria to have that vision to put that combination together.’’
Stanton, who’s in the second year of a record 13-year, $325 million contract, is one of the finest all-around talents in the game. He is the lifeblood face of the Marlins’ franchise, and if anyone can dominate the game like Bonds did throughout his career, it’s Stanton.
“Stanton, that’s the whole big talk,’’ Bonds said. “What do you teach Stanton, who already has it? You motivate him enough to continually do it successfully. Small movements.
“We don’t have to build a tree. We don’t have to build a home. I’m actually trying to see what his vision is, how he sees this, and can we get to the same solution?’’
Oh yeah, and perhaps being an inspiration, offering daily re-assurance won’t hurt, either.
“All players need to be reinforced,’’ Bonds said. “I need to be reinforced. That’s why I had my father (Bobby Bonds) with me. That’s why I had Willie (Mays) with me. That’s why I had the coaches with me. You always need to be reinforced.
“How one does it, that’s where the tactical part comes in. How do you get that out of him?’’
One way to start, Bonds said, is forgetting about Stanton’s contract, saying it should be a non-factor in the equation of greatness.
“People bring up salaries,’’ Bonds said, “and that’s a bunch of crap. It’s B.S. You got a guy that can buy the team. But ask why is he taking himself (so seriously) when he really doesn’t have to do anything because his baseball salary is guaranteed? Why is he going on the field every day to try to prove himself?
“Because he loves what he does.
“People need to throw that money thing into the garbage, because the guys love what they do.’’
It’s no different for Bonds. He didn’t need this. He’s financially set for life - along with a few generations of his family. He could have stayed home, kept riding his bicycle around the Bay Area, helping sponsor women’s cyclists with his Ride 4 Education program, and looking in better shape now than virtually every player he’ll be coaching.
Yet, his love of the game never wavered, not even with the BALCO investigation and steroid allegations, being forced out of baseball after hitting 28 homers with a 1.045 OPS his final season, a grand jury indictment and being snubbed by most voters in the Hall of Fame election.
So why not give back to the game, and help a franchise with a battered image, going 12 years without a playoff berth, six consecutive losing seasons, and hiring and firing seven managers since 2010?
Bonds welcomes that challenge, and if nothing else, wants to help provide continuity, starting with a cohesive lineup where everyone understands their roles. Even if it involves long bus rides through the Grapefruit League, in his first Florida spring training since leaving the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992.
“These guys have great skills,’’ Bonds said, “but (everyone’s) skill level is different. This person can’t be that person. That person can’t be this person. You can’t hit like this person. And you can’t do this.
“But if we have nine guys that can play their roles completely right, that gift comes together as a unit. It becomes one big great machine that works together.
“That’s what you try to do.’’
If you don’t have everyone buying into it, with players that spend the summer looking at their stats instead of the standings, you’ll have a team of losers.
“It’s my job now to get this puzzle with a lot of pieces,’’ Bonds said, “and piece it all together. If no one’s on the same page, then it gets separated a little bit.
“But if you can pull it all together as one, and each person can play their particular role and do their job, that’s when you get a complete car that runs smoothly.
“And go to where you want to go.’’
Bonds, who always had the brilliant hitting mind but rarely shared it, fearing that his teammates would take those secrets once they were traded or left as a free agent, says he’ll be an open book. If you want advice, Bonds will be there. If you have questions, pull up a chair and listen. If you want self-evaluation, well, don’t be afraid of the truth.
“In baseball, there is no straight line to whatever,’’ Bonds said. “What I love about it is that you have different personalities, different minds thinking, how to get the same solution.
“And it’s trying to direct everyone’s mindsets, getting the best out of them within what they see, not just what I see. There could be a whole bunch of them that don’t see the same thing that I see.’’
Maybe, after a year as the Marlins’ hitting coach, everyone else will see something different about Bonds, too.
Instead of a surly slugger, they’ll see a man passionate about the game of baseball, now trying to make a difference to a troubled franchise.
Yes, with a sense of humor, too.
When he looked at his watch and realized he was about to be late for his first day on the job, he laughed, and said: “What are they going to do, fire me?’’
Will it change his image?
That, too, is the great unknown.
Follow Bob Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale
